Although not reflected in the overall score, the Warren County R-III School District remained steady in the area of academic achievement in the latest annual percentage ratings report issued by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.The district scored an 83.9 percent, earning 117.5 of the possible 140 points. Last year R-III scored a 90.4 percent, following up an 82.9 percent in 2014.“We’re steadily making improvements,” said Assistant Superintendent Jill Schowe. “As long as the MPI index scores are increasing, we know that there’s growth.”She said changes to the sequence of the high school science curriculum and testing impacted the overall score, as that was the only area the district did not receive a rating.The APR measures five standards, with a possible amount of points rewarded for each.R-III scored an 80.4 percent in Standard No. 1, Academic Achievement, earning 45 out of a possible 56 points.The second standard, Subgroup Achievement, refers to students who are at an economical disadvantage. R-III earned just 7.5 out of the possible 14 points in that category, scoring a 53.6 percent.“We’re to a point now, where the subgroup makes up the majority of our population,” said Schowe. “The average in that category is improving, so we’re gaining ground at least.”In Standard No. 3, College and Career Readiness, the district scored a 91.7 percent with 27.5 out of the possible 30 points. This category is based upon three subcategories, including advanced placement classes, postsecondary placement and graduate assessments of college and career readiness.Schowe says the latter is particularly challenging for the district.“We have to send out surveys to students 180 days after they have graduated to determine if they are in college, working and if their current situation is related to the career path they worked on while in high school,” she said.“It can be difficult to get people to respond with that information, because they don’t understand that it has to be turned into the state and impacts our scores.”One ongoing area of concern for the district is Standard No. 4, Attendance, in which R-III scored only a 75 percent.“We have to continue working to stress the importance of students being in the classroom on a daily basis, so they do not fall behind,” said Schowe.The only perfect area for R-III was Standard No. 5, Graduation Rate, in which the district scored a full 30 points for 100 percent.“We’re pretty happy with our graduation rate,” said Schowe. “If it were to fall below 100 percent at any time, we would feel like we might be letting students down.”School